Review/Theater; Rock-and-Roll Music Against the Law

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Published: May 1, 1988

In ''Robin's Band,'' an outspoken little musical set in the near future, there is never any question of who is good and who is evil. The good guys, costumed in colorful improvised outfits that make them resemble refugees from a postpunk version of ''Hair,'' are assorted street people who have been dispossessed of their homes by greedy real-estate barons and forced to live in ''the undeveloped zone'' of an unnamed major city. The bad guys, led by the infamous MacDonald Meld (Al Rodriguez), stalk about the stage in double-breasted space suits as they fiendishly conspire to take over more property.

In the future according to ''Robin's Band,'' rock-and-roll has been outlawed. The officially sanctioned music, known as melophonia, suggests Philip Glass transmuted into Muzak. When played, its hypnotic effects instantly turn people into walking zombies. Rock-and-roll, however, still has an underground existence. The keeper of the flame and hero of the dispossessed is a protest singer named Robin (Kelly Hinman), who lives in the mythical domain of Sherwood. And the dramatic climax of ''Robin's Band'' is a ''Star Wars''-style duel between his rock guitar and MacDonald Meld's woozy trance music.

The principal asset of ''Robin's Band,'' the newest production of the AMAS Repertory Theater, is its passion. It has the wild imagination and antic energy of a spirited high-school musical concocted from scratch. In its garishly cartoonish way, it underscores what we already know about the real estate industry and the urban housing crisis. Its author, Jerry Eskow, happens to be the former chairman of theater at the School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. Anthony Abeson, who co-wrote and directed, was also formerly connected with the school's theater department. And 19-year-old Maija Kupris, who wrote the music and lyrics, is a 1987 graduate from the school. Though far less sophisticated than their prototypes, her songs belong to a theatrical pop-rock genre of ''Hair'' and the movie ''Fame.''